When producing adhesive tapes of different sizes, it is necessary to start from film reels of relatively large diameter, which are then unwound, cut to measure and rewound in suitable cutters.
Due to the high speed of these machines, the shutdown times for replacing the empty reel and joining with the already unwound end weigh heavily on the total costs of the finished product.
Machines are known which are provided with two reels which are alternately unwound by independent unwinding means, requiring a shutdown only for the time to provide for joining the unwound end or terminal and the start of the spare reel. The empty reel can then be replaced during the unwinding of the spare reel. However, these machines require a shutdown and moreover the connection has to be made with the machine at rest.